#ham- (2) vb. "judge", attested in the aorist form hamil "you judge". (VT42:33; notice the pronominal ending -l "you". See nemë. The verb #ham- with the meaning "judge" may seem to be an ephemeral form in Tolkien's conception.)
Quenya
Námo
judge
ham-
judge
nam-
judge
#nam- vb. "judge", attested in the 1st person aorist: namin "I judge" (VT41:13). Compare Námo.
nav-
judge
#nav- vb. "judge" (cited in the form navë, apparently the 3rd person aorist). Also given with pronominal suffixes: navin *"I judge" (Tolkien's free translation: "I think"), navilwë "we judge" (VT42:33, 4, VT48:11)
nav-
verb. judge
nem-
judge
[#nem- vb. "judge", attested as endingless aorist nemë, changed by Tolkien to hamë and finally to navë "in all but one case" (Bill Welden). Forms like námo "judge" and namna "statute" point rather to #nam- (q.v.) as a verb "to judge" (VT42:34); the verb namin "I judge" is even listed in Etym.]
námo
noun. judge
Derivations
- √NAM “judge”
Element in
Variations
- Námo ✧ WJ/402
ham-
verb. to judge
Changes
hame→ năvin “judge” ✧ PE22/154Element in
- Q. lá carita i hamil mára alasaila ná “not to do (in this case) what you judge good (would be) unwise” ✧ PE22/154; VT42/33
Variations
- hame ✧ PE22/154 (
hame)
nam-
verb. to judge
Derivations
- √NAM “judge”
Element in
- Q. námië “single judgment or desire”
- ᴺQ. námima “culpable, (lit.) judgeable”
- ᴺQ. nammar “court, courthouse, (lit.) judgment-house”
- ᴺQ. námocombë “tribunal”
- Q. orë nin caritas nó namin alasaila “I would like / feel moved to do so but judge it unwise” ✧ VT41/13
- Q. Rithil-Anamo “Doom-ring”
nav-
verb. to judge
Derivations
- √NDAB “to judge” ✧ PE22/154; VT42/34
Element in
- Q. alasaila ná lá carë tai mo nave mára “it is unwise not to do what one judges good” ✧ PE22/154; VT42/34
- Q. lá caritas, navin, alasaila ná “not doing this would be (I think) unwise” ✧ PE22/154; VT42/34
- Q. la navin caritalyas mára “I do not advise you to do so, (lit.) I don’t judge your doing (it) good” ✧ PE22/154; VT42/33
Phonetic Developments
Development Stages Sources √NDAB > năvin [ndabin] > [ndaβin] > [naβin] > [navin] ✧ PE22/154 √ndab > nave [ndabi] > [ndabe] > [ndaβe] > [naβe] > [nave] ✧ VT42/34
nem-
verb. to judge
námo
masculine name. Judge, Ordainer
Vala of fate and keeper of the Houses of the Dead, spouse of Vairë, usually referred to by the name of his realm Mandos (S/28). His name is variously translated as “Judgement” (MR/150), “Judge” (WJ/402) or “Ordainer” (PE21/85). It is probably a translation of his (unknown) Valarin name (WJ/402).
Possible Etymology: The final element of this name is probably the agental suffix -mo, as with the name Irmo. Its initial element is most likely related to namna “statute” (MR/258) and the noun/verb pair námië “judgement” and nam- “to judge” (VT41/13).
If the sense “Ordainer” is the most accurate translation, the initial element of Námo may instead be the verb ná- “to be”. Along these lines, the word námo is elsewhere given as a general word for an unspecified person, probably originally meaning “being” (PM/340).
As the translation of a Valarin name, Námo may be related to the element Anamo in the name †Rithil-Anamo “Doom Ring”, a translation of Valarin Māχananaškād (WJ/401), elsewhere adapted phonetically into Quenya as Q. Máhanaxar (S/38). This supports the possibility that nam- “judge” is the basis for the name Námo.
Conceptual Development: In the earliest Lost Tales, his true name was ᴱQ. Vê (LT1/66, QL/58). Only the name ᴹQ. Mandos appeared in Silmarillion drafts from the 1930s, both as his true name and the name of his hall, though he was also known by the sobriquet ᴹQ. Nurufantur (LR/205). In Silmarillion revisions from the 1950s-60s, his true name re-emerged, first as Núr, soon changed to Námo (MR/150).
In some notes from the late 1960s, Tolkien considered revising this name to Návo, along with a new verb for “judge”: nav- (PE22/154 note #53). This change did not appear in the narratives, but does lend weight to the idea that Námo is related to nam-.
Changes
- Núr → Námo ✧ MR/150
- Núr → Námo ✧ MRI/Núr
- Námo → Návo ✧ PE22/154
Derivations
- √NDAB “to judge” ✧ PE22/154
Elements
Word Gloss námo “judge” Phonetic Developments
Development Stages Sources √NDAB > Návo [ndabo] > [ndaβo] > [naβo] > [navo] ✧ PE22/154 Variations
- Núr ✧ MR/150; MRI/Núr
- Návo ✧ PE22/154
mando
custody, safe keeping
mando noun "custody, safe keeping" (MR:350) or "prison, duress" (in Mandos, see below, also compare Angamando being translated 'Iron-Gaol') (SA:band). A variant #manda occurs in the place-name Angamanda (see Angamando). Personal name Mando "the Imprisoner or Binder", usually lengthened Mandos. In a deleted version of the entry MBAD of the Etymologies, Tolkien gave mando the meaning "doomsman, judge" instead of "custody" (MBAD (ÑGUR, GOS/GOTH, SPAN), VT45:33)
Anamo
of doom
Anamo noun in genitive "of doom" in Rithil-Anamo "Ring of Doom" (q.v.) Since the reference is to a place (a circle) where judgement was passed, this seems to be "doom" in the sense of "juridical decision" or "(legal) justice". The nominative "doom" may be *anan, with stem anam- (since the root would be NAM as in nam- "to judge", námo* noun "judge"). Alternatively, but less probably, the nominative may be anama**.
Námo (1) noun "Judge", name of a Vala, normally called Mandos, properly the place where he dwells (WJ:402)